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Katrina = Cat.5 = Goodbye New Orleans

my faith is pretty much lost already and I wouldn't be surprised in the least, although exteremely dissapointed.

but maybe this will be the one event that allows the voices of the poor to be heard finally
 
MildKandy said:
Bush and FEMA fucked up is the bottom line. If a republican president is in office next term I will be shocked and definetely lose faith in america.

-weez

You mean you weren't shocked when Bush was re-elected to a 2nd term?
 
And the looting continues...

by Bush cronies of the American coffers, of course.

FIRMS WITH BUSH TIES SNAG KATRINA DEALS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.

"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.

TWO BUSH APPOINTEES AT HALLIBURTON

Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February. In lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate, Allbaugh said his goal was to "educate the congressional and executive branch on defense, disaster relief and homeland security issues affecting Kellogg Brown and Root."

Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said Allbaugh has not, since he was hired, "consulted on any specific contracts that the company is considering pursuing, nor has he been tasked by the company with any lobbying responsibilities."

Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume. A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine. Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after resigning as deputy transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 2004.

On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Norcross said the work was covered under a contract that the company negotiated before Allbaugh was hired.

Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.

Cheney's office said the amount of deferred compensation is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.

Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated its Web site to say: "Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!" Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company with "general consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a direct role in any of the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050910/pl_nm/contracts_dc


Whoever said Bush wasn't in favor of affirmative action?
 
FEMA Executive Orders Paved The Way For Emerging Police State Hell

http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Sept05/060905FEMA.htm

FEMA Executive Orders Paved The Way For Emerging Police State Hell
New Orleans is just the first to fall


Steve Watson | September 6 2005

In the wake of the unfolding police state crisis in New Orleans and the Federal Coup d'Etat of all Constitutional laws there it begs the question, how could this happen?

The answer lies with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the multiple executive orders that have gradually and symptomatically eroded away all aspects of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

It is FEMA that is handling everything and systematically implementing the police state. "It is FEMA who is really calling the shots and setting priorities here," Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, commander of the US Amy Corps Engineers has said of the events in New Orleans.

So let us take a look at how FEMA has paved the way for the emerging police state hell.

FEMA is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. It has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress, it has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution. Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States, but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress.

A Series of Executive Orders dating from the 1960s onwards underlines the history of FEMA. The plan for total control of every aspect of our lives has been under construction for a long time. Below are just some of the Executive Orders relating to FEMA. As you read them, bear in mind that they mean nothing by themselves. They are not law, nor can they become law by and of themselves:

# Executive Order Number 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An "emergency czar" was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies. The bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic.

# Executive Order Number 12656 appointed the National Security Council as the principal body that should consider emergency powers. This allows the government to increase domestic intelligence and surveillance of U.S. citizens and would restrict the freedom of movement within the United States and grant the government the right to isolate large groups of civilians. The National Guard could be federalized to seal all borders and take control of U.S. air space and all ports of entry.

# Executive Order 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

# Executive Order 10995 allows Seizure of all communications media in the United States.

# Executive Order 10997 allows Seizure of all electric power fuels and minerals, public and private.

# Executive Order 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

# Executive Order 10999 allows Seizure of all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control of highways, seaports and waterways.

# Executive Order 11000 allows Seizure of all American people for work forces under federal supervision including the splitting of families if the government finds it necessary.

# Executive Order 11001 allows seizure of all health, education and welfare facilities, public and private.

# Executive Order 11002 empowered the postmaster general to register all men, women and children in the U.S.

# Executive Order 11003 allows seizure of all airports and aircraft.

# Executive Order 11004 allows seizure of all housing and finance authorities to establish Forced Relocation Designated areas to be abandoned as "unsafe."

# Executive Order 11005 allows seizure of all railroads, inland waterways and storage facilities, public and private.

# Executive Order 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

# Executive Order 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

# Executive Order 12919 Signed June 3, 1994, by President Clinton. Encompasses all the



So you see The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. Should it so wish it can completely wipe out the Constitution, yet this would be completely unlawful as it was not created under Constitutional law by the Congress.

FEMA is exactly the kind of parasitic bacterium that the founding fathers warned Americans to stay vigilant against. The images interspersing this article provide us with visual indications that a federal takeover has occurred in New Orleans and all of the above executive orders are operative.

We have also documented how FEMA has set up internment camps all over the US to hold citizens deemed to be "enemy combatants" in times of crisis.

FEMA, which has endlessly drilled for such situations, has been complicit in hindering outside efforts to help in the wake of the disaster. After the authorities in Baton Rouge had prepared a field hospital for victims of the storm, FEMA sent its first batch of supplies, all of which were designed for use against chemical attack, including drugs such as Cipro, which is designed for use against anthrax. The London Guardian reported, "We called them up and asked them: 'Why did you send that, and they said that's what it says in the book'," said a Baton Rouge official.

According to Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, Federal bureaucrats have 'Murdered' the Flood Victims in New Orleans. Broussard stated on Meet The Press that " We have been abandoned by our own country." He broke down in tears as he described how FEMA has cut emergency communication lines and has been turning back fuel and water supplies being sent by outside agencies such as Wal Mart. This is because the Federal Government wants complete control over the situation. Broussard, speaking through his tears re-iterated "nobody's coming to get us, nobody's coming...for God's sake shut up and send somebody."

Local officials no longer have any authority and have been forcibly evacuated, even despite the fact that they wished to stay and oversee the recovery efforts.

Even American Red Cross officials have said that FEMA authorities would not allow them to deliver aid. "The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

Former FEMA officials have admitted that Government disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn't execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck. Ronald Castleman, the former regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and John Copenhaver, a former FEMA regional director during the Clinton administration who led the response to Hurricane Floyd in 1999, said they were bewildered by the slow FEMA response.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has called for the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown and has heavily criticized the government for its awful response.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts has agreed that FEMA has deliberately withheld aid, and cut emergency communication lines, and automatically made the crisis look worse in order to empower the image of a police state emerging to "save the day". He even insinuated that the shoot to kill policy was part of the overall operation in order get an awful precedence set to aid the military industrial complex takeover of America.

"The power of the Federal Government is now greater than at any time, it'll never go back and the Posse Comitatus Act has been eroding ever since it was passed in 1878..." Roberts asserted.

FEMA is now simply a federalized front group for the corrupt money hoarding Department of Homeland Security, the Orwellian titled agency that has nothing to do with security and everything to do with limiting the freedoms of people all over the country.
 
HarryAtPiekarnia said:
He was not re-elected in 2004. He was not elected in 2000, he was selected.

Kerry and the other guy didn't stand a chance anyway.
 
well, I was lucky. I live at near ground zero for the destruction of the Gulf Coast, but we are all alive and the house is not damaged. Everything else here is.



this used to be a Rite Aid located along the beach. The back right corner also used to be a Ruby Tuesdays.
riteaid.jpg
 
MildKandy said:
Bush and FEMA fucked up is the bottom line. If a republican president is in office next term I will be shocked and definetely lose faith in america.

-weez

As much as I fundamentally disagree with Bush's politcal descisions, and as much as I dislike who I know to be him, I think it would be a huge error for sole blame to go on him or FEMA (even though it seems he is finally admitting he made a mistake), but instead blame should be spread throughout all of the local, state, and federal levels. Every level of government failed to some extent. Its embarrassing.
 
Strip joint owner with unfortunate T-shirt wants to get back to work

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050912/od_nm/stripclub_dc_1

New Orleans strip joint wants to get back to work

By Jason Webb Mon Sep 12,11:17 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - There's no water for the "wash the girl of your choice" service and there aren't any girls either, but Big Daddy's strip club on New Orleans' Bourbon Street is getting ready to bring back erotic spectacle to the devastated city.
ADVERTISEMENT

Friday night on Bourbon Street, usually a throbbing artery of the party-going French Quarter, was pretty grim this time around in what has become a foul-smelling ghost town partly covered with a swamp of filthy water.

Police patrol cars and military Humvees made up most of the traffic on the street.

But Big Daddy's general manager, Saint Jones, and a band of helpers defied an evacuation order by arriving to clean up their premises in the historic French Quarter, which escaped largely unscathed from the floods.

Jones told Reuters he would open for business as soon as he could get electricity, water and dancers.

He was already had electricity from a generator, which was moving a pair of robotic woman's legs, in stockings and pink high heels, waving invitingly on the street by the sign for Big Daddy's.

He also had plenty of bottled water.

But his former employees had been evacuated, so his main problem was convincing girls to come to a town without services and supposedly off limits to most civilians.

But Jones, a corpulent man with a strawberry blond beard wearing a black t-shirt reading "I'm smiling because they haven't found the bodies yet," foresaw few problems getting strippers.

"It shouldn't be too hard. Everyone's going to come back in town and want to work. You know, if you've got 50 dancers in Houston and they're not making money, they're going to spread out," he said.

Judging from the number of military and police vehicles which stopped or slowed passing Big Daddy's, they'll have plenty of customers. It didn't seem to occur to the men in uniform to enforce the evacuation order in effect on the city -- they preferred to ask when the strippers would be back.

One army Humvee, carrying a team of Puerto Rican troops, stopped so that a soldier could pose with his M16 rifle by a life-size picture of a naked blonde while his buddy took a photo.

Jones gave them vodka on the rocks in plastic cups, which they enjoyed before hopping back in the Humvee.

Big Daddy's sign advertises several attractions, including "Bottomless. Topless. Table top dancing," and "Wash the girl of your choice."

This last item seemed to provide a business challenge in a city where the scant running water available in some districts is infected with feces and toxic loads of bacteria.

But Jones was undaunted.

"We'll make sure they get showers," he said.

Of course, Jones will fail in his ambition if he is compelled to evacuate.

One of his helpers, Vietnam veteran Terry Fredricks, who has temporarily moved into the strip joint because his home is flooded, said they would only leave if they were forced to go but they would go peacefully if it came to that.

Jones maintained his optimism. Asked about the identity of his potential customers, he replied, inaccurately as it happens, "probably you."
 
a few pics of my hometown. at our position, we received the north east part of the storm and the east eye wall, which are the worst parts of the storm:



allok.jpg


barbershop.jpg


bigtree.jpg


boatcruiser.jpg


bp.jpg


bp3.jpg


brickbuilding.jpg


cars.jpg


carsok.jpg


christyneal.jpg
 
mystic styles, where exactly are you? some people that i work with (me included) are coming over to the outback in slidell, la to volunteer. lemme know where ay are exactly!
 
Grep said:
big.jpg


I would RUN!!!!

My GOD!! That picture is fantastic! It looks like some huge evil monster stetching out its claw....!!

Cool!!

I am drun k atm so it may be just me,,,:)
 
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